Good Money, Bad Money

It's no secret that Apple's iPad product announcement (and now a specific availability date) has been met with as much yawning as there has been excitement. Personally, the commercials look enticing, and anyone who owns an iPhone or iPod is probably drooling at having such a large surface to play with. I will avoid rehashing my questions regarding the lack of certain, "must have" features or the price of the device since I've already written about these two things in a previous entry.

Given the bevy of people calling this the iFail, iDontKnow, etc. it is surprising to see Nintendo announcing a new product that, like the iPad is in relation to the iPod, is essentially a new device with the same capabilities as before. (In reality, it's not really that surprising that these products are generating buzz since we've seen Blackberry release a huge number of products that essentially do the same thing: send email and make phone calls. In fact, I could still be using the 8830 that I was given 4 years ago and wouldn't notice the difference between that and my 9630 that I have now.)

Why did they do it? Granted the product has probably been under development for quite some time, and you can't simply throw away the R&D that you've done simply because another company's concept isn't necessarily a home-run before it steps into the batter's box. (And Apple has that sort of reputation, no?) Still, how much R&D do you need to produce a DSi with screens that are slightly larger; different pre-installed software; and no other differences?

"Hello Nintendo!" I want to scream. "This is what we call Market Research."

It's Easier to Fail at DevOps than it is to Succeed

Slippery when wet Since the term DevOps was coined in Belgium back in 2009, it is impossible to avoid the term whether in discussions with colleagues or in professional trade magazines. And during the years while this movement has gained momentum, many things have been written to describe what elements of a DevOps strategy are required for it to be successful. Yet in spite of this, there is an interesting data point worth noting: not many organizations feel there is a need for DevOps. In a Gartner report entitled DevOps Adoption Survey Results (published in September 2015), 40% of respondents said they had no plans to implement DevOps and 31% of respondents said they hadn't implemented it but planned to start in the 12 months after the survey was conducted. That left only 29% who had implemented DevOps in a pilot project or in production systems, which isn't a lot. "Maybe it's because there truly isn't a need for DevOps," you say. While t...

So What is this IPaaS Stuff, Anyway?

In my last post , I discussed how no-code/low-code platforms fulfill rapid development of business applications - addressing the needs of the Citizen Developer (a Gartner term first used around 2009). I also commented on how this specific objective limits their ability to provide true integration capabilities, which require the flexibility to adapt to the myriad variations of infrastructure. This is a concern because companies often have acquired legacy systems via M&A activity while simultaneously investing in new technology solutions, resulting in a mishmash of systems with multiple ways of accessing them. In this post, I'd like to examine how the needs of the latter group are met by describing some key capabilities that are "must-haves" for any company looking to execute on a digital transformation strategy. In order to do this, let's define who the target user base is for such a technology platform. Disclaimer: I work for MuleSoft (a division...

Application Development Done Right

In a previous article, entitled DevOps as the Ultimate Panacea? , I described how developing code without thinking about the current needs of the end user as well as the future needs once they've become accustomed to using your application ends up not only frustrating them but also can result in customer churn and ultimately lower revenues. In this article, I'd like to describe something simple that I came across today that shows a definite degree of effort to do quite the opposite. Recently, we had a severe snowstorm, one with blizzard-like conditions, which is unheard of in central New Jersey. Being responsible adults, my wife and I went to the grocery store to stock up on essentials (read: chips, chocolate, etc.) in case we get stuck at home. As we were ringing up our order, the cashier mentioned to us that the store has a mobile application. Since both of us are in technology oriented professions, we were skeptical about the need for a grocery store mob...

A Businessman's View

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